“Visitors to a bookshop in Cairo are being invited into a dark, soundproof room to scream at the top of their lungs in an effort to relieve their frustrations and escape from the stresses of daily life. The new ‘scream room’ is tucked away in the “The World’s Door” [Bab Aldounia] bookshop and is also equipped with a full drum kit allowing customers to let go of their worries.” (includes video)
Author: Matthew Westphal
Taking The ‘Hall’ Out Of ‘Concert Hall’ – Classical Organizations Move Into Un-Classical Venues
“Arts administrators are united in the belief that spreading music as far as possible, in both the digital and physical worlds, is more than just a marketing gimmick: It’s a strategy for survival. The world is full of intellectually curious, artistically adventurous young people who would no more buy a ticket to hear Brahms’s Requiem in concert at Geffen Hall than they would stick a stamp on a handwritten letter.”
Preview Periods For Plays Will Disappear ‘In My Lifetime’, Says Leading Director
Michael Grandage: “One of the jobs of a director, and certainly I see it as one of my jobs, is to make sure the rehearsal period is such that when you get to that first preview, you are effectively getting to an opening night. … Opening previews will be opening nights before too much longer in some form. They already are, if you like, because of social media.”
Prado Mounts Its First Show Ever Dedicated To A Female Artist (It Only Took 197 Years)
“The Art of Clara Peeters, which travels from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, is a display of 15 still-lifes by one of the few women to work as a professional painter in 17th-century Europe. The Flemish artist is among just 41 women to be represented in the Spanish museum’s permanent collection (compared with more than 5,000 men).”
From Joe Friday To Dirty Harry: How Pop Culture’s Cops Turned Away From, And On, Their Communities
“As Andy Taylor [of Mayberry] became even more anachronistic, a fantasy of policing as it never really was, he was replaced by successive generations of cops who gradually came to occupy a separate, hermetically sealed sphere. Pop culture may not have predicted our current [Black Lives Matter] moment, but it captured the disconnectedness and animosity that define our discussions about how policing should work.”
In American Popular Culture, There’s No Such Thing As A Bad Police Shooting
“Decade after decade, pop culture has continued to churn out stories that justify and even lionize officers who kill. These stories first turned shootings – and they are almost always shootings – into acts of last resort by noble policemen, and later into exciting executions of dangerous villains. Hollywood has promoted the very myths that result in our being shocked when we see an officer shoot a fleeing person or fire into a parked car, as well as an inflated narrative of valor that generates a near-automatic presumption of the guilt of those killed by police.”
2,000-Year-Old Roman Statue At British Museum Had Its Thumb Knocked Off By Caterers
“The Townley Venus, one of the British Museum’s most important Roman sculptures, was damaged when its thumb was knocked off as catering staff were setting up for an evening event last December.”
Pittsburgh Mayor Tries To Intervene In Symphony Strike
“Mayor Bill Peduto and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald will meet with [Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra] management and musicians this week in an effort to mediate the bruising labor dispute at Heinz Hall.”
‘The Red Detachment Of Women’ Is Coming To Australia, And People Are Fussing About Commie Propaganda
“Chinese-Australian members of the Australian Values Alliance … are drawing up a petition against four Australian performances of The Red Detachment of Women by the National Ballet of China in February at the Melbourne Arts Centre. … The alliance says The Red Detachment was orchestrated by Jiang [Qing, Mao’s wife] ‘to brainwash civilians during the horror of the Cultural Revolution’.”
It’s Been A Long Time And Boatloads Of Money, But Hamburg’s Landmark New Concert Hall Is Finally Opening
“After a delay of six years and about a tenfold increase in costs, a new classical music performance space here is preparing to open its doors. The Elbphilharmonie, a glass-paneled building mounted atop a former warehouse, includes not just two concert halls but a four-star hotel, a restaurant and residential apartments.”